Education

Civil War

Confederate Currency: Financing the Confederacy

Between 1861 and 1865, the Confederacy issued currency to millions of Southerners, gambling that a Confederate victory would ensure the currency was redeemable. To devalue the Confederate Currency, some Northerners printed Confederate money and circulated it in the South. These factors led to one of the greatest inflationary periods in America, particularly in the South. By the war’s end, Confederate notes were worthless, and many people bartered or used black market Union issues as a medium of exchange.